14. Moses meets Jehovah

A Changing God

It is obvious to anyone who has studied the Bible, even a little, that sooner or later if they accept the Bible as being literally accurate, in every case, they meet up with contradictions in it.  A good example of this is the nature of God. 

• The Bible teaches that God can do anything He wants to; 
• it also teaches that God is limited.  
• It teaches that God is invisible but 
• it also says that God has been seen.

The first time that Jehovah introduced Himself to Moses, He said, I AM THAT I AM.  All our Bible teachers have taught us that this means, I am the self existent One!  Or, I am the eternal unchanging One.  Matthew Henry wrote: (Jehovah is) A name that denotes ... That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Ex.3:14. The KJV Bible Commentary writes, God expressed the unchanging, eternal, self-existence of His being.

We, like spoon-fed babies, who swallow without chewing, have carelessly accepted statements like that.  Let's do some chewing for a change.

Karen Armstrong, in A History of God, explained that when the Lord said, to Moses, I AM THAT I AM, He used what might be called a Hebrew idiom.  She writes: When the Bible uses a phrase like, "they went where they went," it means: "I haven't the faintest idea where they went." So when Moses asks who He is, God replies in effect: "Never you mind who I am!" or "Mind your own business".

If we look at the Hebrew words used, we clearly see that it does not mean, the eternal unchanging One.  In Hebrew, it reads like this: and is saying Elohim to Moses, I-shall-become who I-am-becoming. http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/exo3.pdf

• We notice that there is nothing in these words that speak of Jehovah's self-existence or eternality. It is just that Bible teachers have believed the doctrine of Jehovah's eternality so long that they feel obligated to find proof of it where ever they can, even if the proof is not there!

• By Jehovah's own description of Himself, we learn that He is changing; I-shall-become who I-am-becoming.  How did our teachers ever come up with the idea that this means that Jehovah is unchanging? Unless they also were spoon fed and did not bother chewing before they swallowed.

The Burning Bush

Alexander and Zhenia Fleisher relate the biblical story of the burning bush to the plant Dictamnus.  They write: Intermittently, under yet unclear conditions, the plant excretes such a vast amount of volatiles that lighting a match near the flowers and seedpods causes the plant to be enveloped by flame. This flame quickly extinguishes without injury to the plant. Wikipedia - The Burning Bush.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Ex. 9:1.  Again, Jehovah says, I am the God of the Hebrews.  I am not the God of the Egyptians or any other nation.  

Just in passing, it might be mentioned, that later Jehovah claimed absolute control over the whole earth, but that did not happen till after the death and resurrection of Christ.

Jehovah has only one Son and because of His love for humans, He (Jehovah) gave Him (Christ) as a gift to the people of this world.  After Christ had sacrificed His life for humans, the other gods were forced to admit defeat.  

Perhaps, it was then, the gods repeated the words of the Psalmist, Among the gods there is none like You, O Lord; nor are there any works like your works. Psalm 86:8.  They knew that they could not rival a gift like that.  Mr Meek, in Hebrew Origins, writes, Yahweh, it was true, was the supreme god by right of conquest.

The idea that there is only one God has come to us from the Hebrew’s assertion that they have only one God.  The biblical writers did not deny that there were other gods, but they did keep on insisting that they, as a nation, had only one God.  

In speaking of the plurality of the gods, Moses and the Israelites sang this song. Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Ex. 15:11.  It is not surprising that the Jews felt this way about Him, for Jehovah, the God of the Hebrew people, had just finished delivering them from slavery and out of the hand of the Egyptians.

The Lord said, On all the Gods of Egypt I will execute judgement. Ex. 12:12.  He did not say on the idols of Egypt, nor did he say, on the beings worshipped as gods in Egypt.  He said, on all the gods of Egypt.   

If they cross His path, He will deal with them.  Jehovah allowed for the fact that there are other Gods than He, but He will not tolerate His followers to pay homage to other gods, regardless of how insignificant those gods seem!